Access a friends hd? Virus?

OK so my friends computer is Fd. I tryed using system restore...but it didn't work. AS soon as he got back from vacation and turned on his computer and plugged in the internet his computer got hosed. I am assuming that its a worm. Everything in the start menu is gone. The desktop has the icons there but they don't work. Most of the system icons are missing so it is just words.

I can't run system programs like device manager or msconfig or regedit. Safe mode proved no different. Like I said I was able to run the system restore but it didn't fix anything.

I can't run any exe programs on the system like norton or spybot, it just gives some message about it being improperly configured settings or somthing.

I was able to find the exe files for things like msconfig but I was unable to run them. This made me think that somthing hosed the registry..

So I take the HD to my house to grab all of his pictures and files. I ran a scan of his HD with norton fully updated but it didn't find anything except some spyware mainly cookies. I thought that was funny. Then I tried to get acces to his documents but it said that access is denied. I ran a scan on his folder (the one I can't access) but it wasn't able to scan any files.

So perhaps norton would find a virus but it isn't able to access all of the folders? 1st how can I remove this access denied? I do know his password but I don't see any option. How can I backup his files if I can't access them?

Is there a new virus going around? Another friend just called saying he had similar problems?

Have you tried to access the directory in the console or DOS?

Whether the version of XP installed is Home or Pro, it makes a difference afa accessing the My Documents folder. Regardless of the version of XP, you'll need to take ownership of the My Documents folder, and must be logged on to the computer with an account that has administrative priveleges to do so. In XP Home, you have to boot to Safe Mode and logon as Administrator, or use the cacls.exe tool (located in C:\WINDOWS\system32) from an admin account in normal mode in order to make changes to the NTFS file permissions. To enter Safe Mode, hold down the F8 key just before Windows starts to load (just before your PC finishes POST'ing).

Only Pro allows you to disable the simple file sharing mode (My Computer | Tools | Folder Options | "View" tab | Uncheck "Use simple file sharing") and access the security tab in normal mode of operation. Simple file sharing makes the My Documents folder private from everyone, including other Admins, so your files won't be visible to others who logon to the console. By default, XP Pro uses Simple File sharing when it's not joined to a domain.

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP